Step Thirty Four: Ghostface Killah: Fishscale.

Artist:  Ghostface Killah
Album:  Fishscale
Release Date:  March 28, 2006
Producers:  DOOM, Pete Rock, J Dilla, etc.

Review:  For some reason, when it comes to Ghostface Killah, it always comes back to Fishscale for me.  By the time it came out, I'd seen Wu-Tang live twice (the second time they actually premiered the video for the Fishscale single "Back Like That" before the show) and had a handful of Wu albums in my library...but I bought it on a weekly trip to the record store near my college and it became a staple of my budding Wu-Tang section almost immediately.

At the time of this writing, Fishscale and its quick sequel More Fish are also the midway point in Ghostface's solo career - the fifth and sixth releases of his 11-album catalog.  I think that halfway point makes itself clear musically, too.  The soul-heavy sounds from Ironman and fast delivery of Supreme Clientele are here, but Fishscale also foreshadows some of the storytelling elements Ghost uses most heavily on his recent comic book concept albums, 2013's 12 Reasons to Die and 2014's 36 Seasons.  After a quick diss-filled intro from our old friend Clyde Smith (Raekwon voice-disguised), the album drops a four-song atom bomb on us with "Shakey Dog," "Kilo," "The Champ" and "9 Milli Bros."

"Shakey Dog" is a three-minute single verse telling the story of Ghost and his boy Frank pulling a robbery in the projects, from the stakeout to facing gunfire and a pitbull in the target apartment.  It's fast and furious but never loses control.  It's followed up by "Kilo" featuring Raekwon.  If history has proven one thing, it's that Raekwon and Ghostface go together like rum and Coke.  In my mind they're more a team than anyone else in the Wu (except maybe GZA, RZA and ODB), despite Ghost and Rae being MIA on a couple of each other's albums.  It's a little slower and bouncier than "Shakey Dog" or the next track, "The Champ," but it's a good breather between the two.

Then there's "The Champ."  Due to sample clearance issues, they couldn't use dialogue from the Rocky films throughout this track but a leaked early copy floats around that has them.  However, the stand-in actors they got do the job just fine on this Just Blaze-produced track that is easily my personal favorite on the album.  It sounds like a boxer's walk-out track, it uses an image of Ghost's lyrics being equivalent to a heavyweight champion's boxing, and a friend of mine asked me for warm-up music for her own Muay Thai fights and this is the one she still uses out of all the tracks I sent her.  It's crazy aggressive in the best of ways.  Check out some of the Muhammad Ali-worthy combos here:

"Trailblazer stay ballin' with vengeance, my arts is crafty
Darts, while y'all stuck on Laffy Taffy
Wonderin' 'How did y'all niggas get past me?
I been doin' this before Nas dropped the 'Nasty''
My Wallys I did 'em up, them bricks I sent 'em up
My rhymes y'all bit 'em up, for that now stick 'em up
10-4 good buddy, Tone got his money up
Worth millions, still bag your bitch lookin' bummy what
Y'all starin' at the angel of death
Liar liar pants on fire, you're burnin' up like David Koresh."

Ghost is saying he doesn't get how bullshit rap like Laffy Taffy (and later, the guys who bit (stole) his rhymes) gets constant airplay, fame, money and recognition while a vet like him, who's been dropping legendary verses since Nas was still known as Nasty Nas, still fights for it every day.  Another "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" part is in the third verse, where Ghost fits in every solo album he's had a major stake in since he started:  "Back East I'm an MC king / since Cuban, Pretty Tone, Ironman, Bulletproof and Supreme" - namedropping Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... and Ghost's own Pretty Toney Album, Ironman, Bulletproof Wallets and Supreme Clientele.  It sounds amazing.

"9 Milli Bros." follows, and features production by MF Doom and verses by every single member of the Wu-Tang Clan - including Cappadonna and Ol' Dirty Bastard, the latter dead over a year - in just four minutes.  It's as perfect casting for me as if I wrote a hip-hop fan fiction.  No surprise, everyone does their thing and brings their best game.  It may be the first time all 10 Wu-generals featured on a track since 1997's "Triumph," since ODB wasn't able to contribute to the "full group" songs "Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off)" or "Uzi (Pinky Ring)."  Also, if you're wondering why Inspectah Deck sounds so unlike himself here, Rap Genius claims it's because he mentioned in interviews around the time of this release that he'd been in the studio while getting over some illness.

After those four insane tracks, it's good that the next few tracks slow it down for a minute so we can breathe.  Raekwon returns for "R.A.G.U." and Ghost gets told off by a small child in "Bad Mouth Kid (Skit)" before J Dilla produces "Whip You with a Strap."  Then there's the album's big single "Back Like That," featuring Ne-Yo.  Oddly enough, "Back Like That" is the most catchy but my least favorite song on the album.  It consistently excuses the narrators' cheating on their girls while condemning the girls for doing the same thing right back.  I understand that the track tries to make it apples and oranges by spinning it like "I made a couple mistakes, but you revenge-fucked a guy who you know I hate," but to me it's close enough to splitting hairs that I don't love it.  You cheated on her; why be surprised that she returns the favor when she finds out?  It's still a good song musically and lyrically, but the message throws me.

The album switches gears at its running time's halfway point.  Immediately after "Back Like That" is "Be Easy," the first song to feature a member of Ghostface's found talent The Theodore Unit (unless you count "9 Milli Bros." since Cappadonna was technically in Theodore Unit as well).  Theodore Unit are on the next four tracks in a row: "Be Easy," "Clipse of Doom," "Jellyfish" and "Dogs of War."  "Be Easy" is live and boisterous with a catchy hook and guest stars Trife da God and production from Pete Rock.  "Clipse of Doom" also features Trife, with production by MF Doom - both also appear on "Jellyfish" and are joined by Cappadonna and Theodore Unit's Shawn Wigs.  Finally, "Dogs of War" is another Pete Rock production with Raekwon, Trife, Cappadonna and Sun God.

The final collaboration with DOOM on this album is "Underwater," which (aside from "Jellyfish") sounds the most typical of his music.  It's pretty awesome to hear Ghostface rapping over DOOM's beats, even though all four of his tracks are recycled from older beats.  I mentioned previously that DOOM's first involvement with the Wu was his guest verse on "Biochemical Equation" on Think Differently Music in October of 2005, but I think his Adult Swim project DangerDoom came out a few months before then and it did feature one verse from Ghostface.  Either way, it's good to hear the two work together again so well.  DOOM next produced two tracks on More Fish, brought both Raekwon and Ghostface to guest star on his 2009 album Born Like This and released the first song from DOOM and Ghost's long-rumored collaboration project DOOMStarks, "Victory Laps," in 2012.  DOOMStarks has had more buzz this month in a Reddit AMA with Ghostface, in which a fan asked him about the project and he simply responded that it's coming out in 2015.

The album ends with the slow burner "Momma" and a bonus track of GFK, Biggie and Raekwon - "Three Bricks."  Anyone scratching their heads over how The Notorious B.I.G. got on a record with Ghost and Rae a decade after his death may be a little disappointed: Biggie's verse is taken from his track "Niggas Bleed" off his 1997 release Life After Death.  Despite the known problems Method Man expressed with the direction P. Diddy took with Tical 0, he co-produces "Three Bricks."

Legacy:  The response to Fishscale was overwhelming.  Critics lauded it as Ghostface Killah's best release since the near-perfect Supreme Clientele and the sheer amount of great songs is impossible to ignore.  I mentioned earlier it works as a great midway point in Ghost's career between 1993 and 2014 by mixing his first solo efforts with his latest.  It also kicks off a writing spree in which Ghostface released three studio albums in 18 months and sits pretty in the middle of some underrated gems in the Map of Shaolin - Think Differently and Grandmasters we already discussed, but the Wu are about to bring it strong again with Inspectah Deck's The Resident Patient, Masta Killa's Made in Brooklyn and 4:21: The Day After, which is Method Man's bounce-back from Tical 0.  While 2005/2006 didn't quite garner the financial and critical success of the '94 to '96 era of Wu-Tang, it's a damn enjoyable part of their history I'm excited to get into - and you should be too.  Now go listen to "The Champ" to pump yourself up.

Recommended Tracks:  The Champ, 9 Milli Bros., Be Easy.

Step Thirty Three: DJ Muggs vs. GZA: Grandmasters.

Artist:  GZA/DJ Muggs
Album:  Grandmasters
Release Date:  October 25, 2005
Producer:  DJ Muggs

Review:  Take one of Wu-Tang's best lyricists and have him write 40 minutes of rhymes over music by Cypress Hill's DJ and producer.  The result is Grandmasters.

There is a chance it could've failed - look at supergroups like Audioslave who added two great talents together and ended up with less than either had by themselves - but fortunately the album exceeds expectations on all fronts.  DJ Muggs brings a lot of insightful beats and GZA spits solid rhymes throughout the record, as do his guest stars - Wu-Tang's Raekwon, RZA and Masta Killa as well as Cypress Hill's Sen Dog and Wu-affiliate Prodigal Sunn.

"Those That's 'Bout It" kicks the album off after a quick intro, and GZA sounds calm and at home over Muggs' beats with rhymes like "Enemies get cooked like eggs while they scramble / He lived but he still lost his legs as he gambled."  RZA shouts a quick intro to open "Destruction of a Guard" before Raekwon operates the hooks and occasional hype lines.  Muggs' quick vocal loops and piqued drums don't sound completely foreign to the emerging Wu sound of the time but still offer his personal flavor.

"Exploitation of Mistakes" offers a quaint and curious piano loop and typewriter sounds while GZA tells low-key, sweeping stories of New York life - "He said he knew a man who killed a pop star / And almost got caught by a passing cop car / The inmate said 'Probably the motive was robbery / And knowing this and keeping it a secret, it bothers me.'"

RZA comes alive on "Advance Pawns" by lighting off his verse with "I examine your diameter, third eye light the camera up / Be careful, I got four ninjas inside your parameter / Perimeter, flames burst out all sides like the Gamera / My poisonous is released, gas from the canister."  Raekwon brings it too with a solid, slang-heavy verse ("When you see it, you better acknowledge, you're all swords / Blaze the green hundred fours").

Any longtime GZA fan would come to expect him to have at least one song namedropping a large collection of products to tell a story.  On Liquid Swords, it was record labels on "Labels."  On Beneath the Surface, GZA worked magazine names into "Publicity"'s lyrics, then on Legend of the Liquid Sword there were celebrities on "Fame" ("Alicia Keyed his car..." and "George Burns a cigar..." etc).  On Grandmasters, GZA works NFL team names into a story about an actress with an abusive boyfriend.  "She loved stuffed animals, especially the Bears / Was a role model, like the Cardinal to our peers / A Patriotic tomboy like Mary Ellen from the Waltons / A former lifeguard who had the skills of a Dolphin."  As usual, it's a great concept that's executed pretty well.  Sometimes it seems that the concept tries a bit too hard to make ends meet, but I'm never not impressed by GZA's namedrop/story mechanic.

"All in Together Now" is next, which ties in with the Ol' Dirty Bastard song of the same name from Nigga Please with its hook "All, all, all in together now / Kept the balance stay dressed for the weather now" etc.  Also, since GZA, RZA and ODB were in a group called All In Together Now before starting Wu-Tang, it's no surprise that this is one of the first posthumous ODB tribute songs (besides the scratch/sample-heavy "ODB Tribute" from Think Differently last week).  GZA credits Dirty as "He was intelligent, his style was relevant / I could name ten niggaz that stole an element."

Masta Killa and Prodigal Sunn appear on "Unstoppable Threats" and offer solid verses over Muggs' infectious bass-and-guitar-led beat.  MK throws out tight couplets like "It's goin' down, wait for the sound, my soldiers rally 'round / Ninja men blending in with the surrounding."

The final three tracks on the album - "Unprotected Pieces," "Illusory Protection" and "Smothered Mate" - are quality hip-hop, just like the rest of the album.  I hate glossing over them, but they're all equally enjoyable without having some of the standout elements of tracks like "Advance Pawns" or "Exploitation of Mistakes."  I'm glad that this album is just an all-around great LP, but it makes it a bit tricky to discuss when I want to keep saying "Yeah, _______ is a solid track; check it out."  So don't take my brevity here as a complaint; give this whole album a listen and love it like it deserves to be loved.

Legacy:  After the lukewarm Beneath the Surface and the good-but-inexplicably-censored Legend of the Liquid Sword, it's good to hear GZA provide an airtight album like Grandmasters.  By seeking production outside the Wu-Tang family, it helps his career seem a little less incestuous and more worldly.  The album was well-received by critics and helped break what some believed to be a slump following GZA's two records that followed Liquid Swords.  It still stands out today, almost another 10 years after its release, as a secondary or tertiary high-water mark in GZA's catalog.  It also doesn't hurt that this is the first album of at least four or five in a row on the Map of Shaolin that is really kickass, which helps following the speedbumps of Mr. Xcitement and a couple other early-'00s hiccups.

Recommended Tracks:  Exploitation of Mistakes, Advance Pawns, Unstoppable Threats.

Step Thirty-Two: Think Differently: Wu-Tang Clan Meets the Indie Culture.

Artist:  Various
Album:  Think Differently Music: Wu-Tang Clan Meets the Indie Culture
Release Date:  October 18, 2005
Producers:  Bronze Nazareth, Preservation, et al.

Review/Breakdown:  In an uncertain time for the Wu, following largely negative reviews for U-God's Mr. Xcitement and Method Man's Tical 0 but serious bangers like Inspectah Deck's The Movement and Masta Killa's No Said Date, the project Think Differently Music: Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture emerged, leaving more questions than answers.  It's a solid listen for the most part, put together largely by Bronze Nazareth (who previously produced two tracks on RZA's Birth of a Prince after being picked up by Cilvaringz in 2001) and Dreddy Krueger.  The idea is to throw away pop-structured rap and get back to long tracks, ensemble songs with no hooks and so on - all featuring Wu-Tang affiliates and hand-picked underground hip-hop emcees.  So where the Hell did they all come from and how did the album end up with the cast list it did?  It's a bit of a maze, so stick with me.  Here's what's up.

This compilation kicks off with "Lyrical Swords" by GZA and Ras Kass.  Bronze Nazareth produces, and it sounds excellently disjointed - like every half-beat was copy-pasted together.  Horns are cut off before the end of their notes, or enter later than their initial blow.  The same goes for the percussion loop.  Somehow it still stays focused and makes sense.  GZA's lyrics never fail and here he's no different.  Ras Kass takes the second verse, his affiliation with Wu-Tang dating back to a guest spot by RZA on Ras's 1998 sophomore album Rasassination. 

"Slow Blues" is a head-nodding blues-rock/rap hybrid with Vast Aire, Byata, Timbo King (part of Royal Fam with Dreddy Krueger; Royal Fam appeared on the Ghost Dog soundtrack) and Prodigal Sunn (of Sunz of Man).  The music is great, a slow kick-kick-snare drumbeat with harmonica, electric guitar and shrill keys backing it.  Solid track besides an awkward bar after Byata's verse that lingers before introducing Timbo King, and Prodigal Sunn outshines the others a bit.

Prodigal Sunn brings another solid verse on the following track, "Still Grimey," with U-God, Sean Price and C-Rayz Walz.  Of course U-God is a Wu general and Prodigal Sunn is in Sunz of Man, but C-Rayz Walz seems to have come up as a name affiliated with Vast Aire (from the previous track), guesting on an album by Vast Aire's group Cannibal Ox.  It's a decent track, but not my favorite.  There's nothing wrong with Preservation's production, but it doesn't stick out to me the way the first two songs did.

After a quick skit, another ensemble assembles to take the stage on the title track "Think Differently."  First up is Casual (who may have crossed paths with RZA on the previous year's Handsome Boy Modeling School album White People and is a longtime collaborator with Del the Funky Homosapien, who appears on Think Differently later on).  Tragedy Khadafi is an old name in hip-hop, working with Marley Marl, Pete Rock, Jedi Mind Tricks and others.  Roc(k) Marciano spits third and kills it with an incredibly intricate verse.  Marciano was a member of Busta Rhymes' crew Flipmode Squad back in the day and shared space with Ghostface Killah and Raekwon on the track "The Heist" on Busta's 2000 album Anarchy.  Finally, Vordul Mega (partners with Vast Aire in Cannibal Ox) rhymes, referencing Nine Inch Nails along the way.

Jim Jarmusch, still on friendly terms with RZA since they collaborated on Ghost Dog, narrates two commercial-sounding skits on the album.  The first leads into the only RZA-produced track on the album, "Biochemical Equation," which features verses by RZA and MF Doom.  Doom is a fascinating figure and deserves a running blog of his own, but for now it's noteworthy that this is Doom's first crossover with Wu-Tang, appearing next as a producer on Ghostface Killah's Fishscale in 2006 (although all four songs he produces are based on previous Doom beats).  Both artists bring solid verses to the track, and some of Doom's charmingly silly style rubs off on RZA.  For example, at one point RZA rhymes "The reason why I pulled you over? / 'Cuz the way you were swerving, sir, you can't be sober."  It reminds me of a rhyme on Doom's album Vaudeville Villain where he says to a cop "Uh, it's really none of your business what I'm doing with the knife, sir..."  Doom's tongue-twister reputation remains untarnished here, too, with couplets like "You're soft, they say he rhyme like he's starvin' / And sold odds and bodkins to old gods and goblins."

DJ Noize scratches and samples a tribute to Ol' Dirty Bastard, the first on-record mention of ODB's death.  It features interview clips, bits of music and lyrics from across the board and a sample of Richard Pryor talking about mourning for the dead.  It works, but I'm a lot fonder of the tribute songs to come on subsequent albums - Raekwon's "Ason Jones," Wu-Tang's "Life Changes" and so on.

Del the Funky Homosapien performs the awkward track "Fragments."  He sings note-for-note, Hendrix style, along to the music for the hook - which wouldn't be a problem except the beat is so malformed by itself that his accompaniment only makes it stand out more.  It's really weird, because Bronze Nazareth's music on every other track ("Lyrical Swords," "Slow Blues," "Think Differently" and the upcoming "Street Corners," "Listen" and "Black Dawn") is fantastic.  It ranges from blaxploitation film music to soul and classic RZA-style Wu-beats.  Del, likewise, is an awesome lyricist (his album Both Sides of the Brain is a classic and he performed the verses on the explosive Gorillaz debut "Clint Eastwood") but he does better on his next track.

Bronze Nazareth's first vocal appearance is on the first verse of the old-school-inspired "Street Corners" and he holds his own next to Solomon Childs (formerly of Ghostface's offshoot group Theodore Unit, who released their debut album 718 in 2004) and Byata (who also had a verse earlier on "Slow Blues").  It's a slow jam that could've had a comfortable home on the Ghost Dog soundtrack.

Quick recess.  If your head's spinning from all the associations, links and back stories of the contributing artists on this record already, I don't blame you.  I personally find it fascinating to see the crossroads and histories of albums come together, and one that's so personnel-heavy as Think Differently Music demands some explanation, hence the footnotes so far.  At the same time, you may notice that so far this is almost exclusively extended Wu-Tang family members working with the indie rappers like Cannibal Ox, Byata and so on.  If there's one real beef I have with this record, that's it.  GZA is on two tracks, RZA is on one, U-God is on another and there are some samples on the ODB tribute from the main group, but the subtitle Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture is a bit misleading.  "Street Corners" sounds like an ideal beat for Masta Killa and the upcoming "Listen" is perfectly upbeat for an emcee like Inspectah Deck or Method Man, even sounding like something from INS's 2006 The Resident Patient or Method and Red's Blackout!.  As it stands, anyone who may have bought the album without closely examining the tracklist on the back likely missed that the core members of Wu-Tang only appear on four of the album's 19 tracks.

Mobb Deep manager Littles performs with Khalid and Planet Asia (who collaborated with Ghostface Killah on his 2004 album The Grand Opening) on "Listen," with a classic RZA-style beat that could've easily blended in on anything from Cuban Linx... to Supreme Clientele.  It's another great track that helps rinse out the sour taste of "Fragments."

Next up is the second collaboration between Ras Kass and GZA, "Verses," which also features La the Darkman (who co-wrote "Walk the Dogs" with Royal Fam on the Ghost Dog soundtrack) and Scaramanga Shallah, often known as Kool Keith's protege.  Its quick looped keys and soul strings are right at home with the aggressive verses by all four rappers.  Props to Ras Kass for devoting much of his verse to calling out the George W. Bush administration's links to Halliburton and their role in the world economy.

Preservation makes up for any of the misgivings from "Still Grimey" with the bawdy jazz piano and horns on "Preservation," making room for Aesop Rock and Del the Funky Homosapien to slay the listener.  Del also redeems himself for "Fragments" on this track.  Aesop sets it off with "Riff raff, alley, when I boom slang, drip draft / Venom with a new twang, same swagger, new thang" and Del returns the volley later with the airtight "Map your route, 'cuz Aesop is absolute / Del?  He practice shoot basket hoops, capture fools with lasso hoops."

CCF Division (featured on RZA's Birth of a Prince) bring the most explicitly gangsta rap-sounding "Cars on the Interstate," produced by longtime Wu producer Mathematics.  Decent track, but nothing to write home about.

On the other hand, R.A. the Rugged Man and J-Live perform on "Give It Up," and R.A.'s verse is some of the most intricate and mind-bending rap I've ever heard.  Here are a couple samples.  First he sets the scene of himself watching sexploitation films before they get him for the song:

"Give it up, bust you up, no fuss, blood gush
Cuss much, Russ Meyer bust nuts, crunch crush
Guts bust, what's what?  The white King Tut
Out in Suffolk, look who they dug up, yup it's the Rugged."

Then he addresses how fans react to the crazy rumors and stories about him (his mental illness, violent heritage etc):

"Pamphlets from the '80s, library, lies buried
TV tells lies visually, kid you with me?
Hostility, humility, 'Hillbilly gorilla, he mentally ill, he silly
Is he actually?  Will he kill me really?'"

...before closing with the same extended metaphor of himself and grindhouse films:

"Ammunition spittin' isn't missin', ain't you listenin'?
Slithering, ridden in sin, slipping, sin-delivering
I'm sicken it with sin and sizzlin' rhythm, verbally hit 'em
'Did he did it or did he didn't admit it?'
Pretend he ain't offending the men and women
Every minute he in it
Only every illiterate ignorant critic will diss it
Every idiot that ain't live it, they talkin' shit
I'm RA the Rugged Man, get off my dick."

It's the type of high-speed linguistic pattern that has to be heard to be believed, like the chanting of a possessed man.  Of course J-Live is nothing to scoff at either, but there's just no following that Rugged Man verse.

Bronze Nazareth closes with "Black Dawn," rapping and producing.

Legacy:  Think Differently Music: Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture is a very listenable compilation mostly put together with extended Wu affiliates and indie rappers.  It shows that the Wu haven't forgotten where they came from and are willing to give the spotlight up to other emcees struggling to make a career.  Most of the rappers here didn't feature again on future Wu compilations aside from obvious second-gen Wu family like Sunz of Man's Prodigal Sunn (Sean Price and Roc Marciano are the exceptions).

This did help further Bronze Nazareth's career though, producing later for Masta Killa, GZA, Raekwon and 60 Second Assassin.  He also started the group Wisemen, whose second album featured guest appearances from both Raekwon and Planet Asia.  Killah Priest started the group Almighty that has included contributors from this compilation like Bronze Nazareth, C-Rayz Walz and Planet Asia.

Dreddy Krueger has since become an A&R rep for many of the core members of Wu-Tang and releasing a double-disc Wu-family compilation called Wu-Tang: The Lost Anthology in 2007.  He also released a dubstep remix of this album - which is not only not a part of the Map, but also something we'll just pretend never happened.

Recommended Tracks:  Lyrical Swords, Slow Blues, Preservation, Give It Up.

Ghostface Killah: 36 Seasons (Quick Review).

Artist:  Ghostface Killah
Album:  36 Seasons
Release Date:  December 9, 2014
Producers:  The Revelations

Review:  In 2013 Ghostface released 12 Reasons to Die, a concept album where he played a gangster named Tony Starks (again taking a name from the Marvel Comics character Iron Man), whose girlfriend double-crosses him for the DeLuca family, a rival crime outfit.  The DeLucas kill him, melt his remains into 12 vinyl records and he returns as Ghostface Killah, a Punisher-type vigilante/outlaw.  It's a pretty entertaining concept and makes use of great music by producer Adrian Younge.

36 Seasons follows up with a similar presentation: a concept album about Tony Starks returning to New York after a nine-year absence.  His girlfriend has moved on, his neighborhood of the Stapleton Projects has turned to shit and his best friend Rog is now a police officer who asks Tony to "handle" some local crooks (their leader played by Kool G Rap).  Apparently this is a different Tony Starks than on 12 Reasons to Die; Tony gets his friend Mig to help him on his mission, but Tony gets seriously wounded and has his life saved by a mysterious surgeon.  Returning home (though with a mask (pictured) that he needs to breathe), Tony is arrested by the cops and while in prison realizes that his police friend set him up and is his girlfriend's new beau.  Of course Tony seeks revenge, gets the girl back and saves the neighborhood.

I'll be the first to admit I'm a sucker for a concept album.  My first was probably Tommy by The Who, followed by Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral, David Bowie's Outside and so on.  So long as the effort to tell the story pays off, I'm down with an album that you have to hear from front to back to appreciate.  Having said that, I really believe that 12 Reasons to Die and 36 Seasons are quality listens.  I'll get into the balance of story and music when we get to them on the Map of Shaolin, but for now here's a quick look at 36 Seasons.

It starts off with a bang on "The Battlefield," where we meet Tony Starks on his homecoming trip.  Kool G Rap slays his first appearance here, as does newcomer AZ, and the music is catchy and rockin'.  Kandace Springs, who plays Tony's ex Bamboo, shines on "Love Don't Live Here No More," providing sad vocals as she breaks Tony's heart.

"Here I Go Again" provides a great example of Ghost telling a story while remaining entertaining with his style of rhymes.  He relays a conversation he had with his cop friend Rog:

"'We got some niggaz runnin' drugs that can't be touched
Unless you wanna handle the dirt; that would mean so much.'
I said 'I got this - message received
I'mma clean up the block like you wouldn't believe.
Call me Mr. Clean - AKA Starkiano
Nine years later slid across the Verazzanno."

Ghostface even steps back for four full tracks, letting Kool G Rap and Nems handle the brief "Loyalty," having producers The Revelations perform covers of The Persuaders' "It's a Thin Line Between Love and Hate" and Fuzz's "I Love You for All Seasons" and featuring Kandace Springs solo on "Bamboo's Lament."  And that "Thin Line" cover is one of the highlights of the album, no joke.  Judging by the automobile foleys in the background at the beginning, it sounds like it's meant to be a song Tony listens to on his way to take out Kool G Rap with his friend Mig (played by Shawn Wigs of the Ghostface side act The Theodore Unit).

Throughout the album, the rhymes and music stay tight - from the denouement/epiphany on "Pieces to the Puzzle" to the superhero vow of "Call My Name" ("Call my name when you need me, I'll be there quick fast in a hurry / No need to worry / The almighty GFK, the masked avenger / New York's top contender, city's defender").  There are little intermissions from the rapid-fire storytelling, which help keep the audience from getting overwhelmed by the thousands of words flying by.  I'll admit I liked hearing other Wu-Tang members on 12 Reasons to Die (Cappadonna trying to warn Tony that his girl is working for the DeLucas, RZA narrating the story, etc) but the guests on 36 Seasons really do their parts justice.  Kool G Rap and AZ as the crooked kingpin and Rog the cop, Shawn Wigs as the best friend, Kandace Springs as Bamboo, Pharoahe Monch as the mad doctor - it's a cast of diverse and necessary characters on an engaging and fun album.

My copy of the album - which came from Get On Down, the distributor - came with 11 bonus instrumentals and a 24-page comic-style booklet representing the album in full, which helped make a bit of sense of the story.  The instrumentals give the music a great chance to shine and the comic is a good visual aid for any track on the album.

More on this beast when we come to it properly on the Map, but for now I gotta say it seems like Ghostface has found a hell of a niche in using original retro music and an acting cast of rappers to tell a comic book story.  It's fun, it lends itself to some of the most ear-catching music in Ghost's solo career and tight narrative rhymes.  Check it out!

Step Thirty One: U-God: Mr. Xcitement.

Artist:  U-God
Album:  Mr. Xcitement
Release Date:  September 13, 2005
Producers:  DJ Homicide, The Produkt, Mike Baiardi, 4th Disciple, Letha Face

Review:  Let's get it out of the way immediately:  Mr. Xcitement is U-God's worst album, and one of the least impressive in the Wu catalog.  Since U-God himself has expressed his disappointment with the record, much as Method Man did with the final result of Tical 0: The Prequel, I think it's safe to say this one didn't go as planned for Golden Arms.  So what happened?

Comparing it again with Tical 0 (which came out just 16 months earlier and is a similar low point on the Map of Shaolin), we were able to pick through the producers, the guest stars and everything else to figure out that Tical 0 was more a product of Def Jam than it was a cohesive Method Man album.  There are so many different factors that could've made Mr. Xcitement great or awful, I wanted to take a look at them one at a time to try to nail down where the problem is.

One of the many differentiating factors between U-God's sophomore release and most of the other Wu albums is an almost complete lack of involvement from any Wu-Tang member aside from the main artist.  Only 4th Disciple makes an appearance to produce "A Long Time Ago" (one of the album's most salvageable tracks).  However, it's unfair to criticize the album for a lack of Wu involvement, since Inspectah Deck's The Movement released two years prior absolutely annihilated and had little more contribution from the Wu fam than this (just Streetlife and Killa Sin guested on The Movement, although its producers Phantom of the Beats and Arabian Knight have occasionally popped up here and there with Wu-Tang).

Was the problem somewhere with the massive amounts of work on this album from Letha Face or DJ Homicide?  Letha Face had successful (although maybe not mind-blowing) guest spots on U-God's previous album, Golden Arms Redemption, on the tracks "Glide," "Rumble," "Shell Shock" and "Knockin' at your Door."  Likewise, DJ Homicide produced "Soul Dazzle" and "Night the City Cried" on Golden Arms Redemption and as I mentioned on Step 15 of the Map of Shaolin, they managed pretty well back then.

Others might blame the label, Free Agency Recordings, who seem to only have ever released Mr. Xcitement and a Prodigal Sunn album, for not doing their part, but if anything, their lack of involvement can hardly be blamed for Xcitement's failings.  Curiously, it was released around the time of U-God's mysterious departure from Wu-Tang, and maybe his decision to leave - or his ultimate return - had something to do with this album?

It's a mystery.  For whatever reason, almost none of the stars align for Mr. Xcitement.  Here's what I'm talking about.

"Blow Ya Mind Intro" and "It's a Wrap" entertain for their part, with U-God's and Letha Face's lyrics bouncing off Homicide's lively beats, but "Hit 'em Up, Roll Out" and "Get Down" fall flat with vague braggadocio and forgettable hooks ("Get down, get down, bruh / I'm in ya town, bruh / That's how we do it I'm a stone-cold rider / I bust a round off / I'm a survivor / This is how we do it for you snake-ass connivers").  I also never dug the "slow music, fast vocal" sound that came out of Atlanta around this time (Ludacris, some of Outkast's weaker tracks, etc), and "Hit 'em Up, Roll Out" delivers it in spades (as does the later "Bump"), so it rubs me the wrong way.

"I'm Talkin' to You" has a fun hook, utilizing the retro rock sound that's livened up U-God's subsequent albums as well (eg "Stars" on The Keynote Speaker), but his verses don't sound like his heart's in it.  Rhymes like "You and your brother is a dirty combo / You bird-ass niggaz, catch 30, pronto" drag it down.  A guest verse from Ghostface would've brought some punch to it.

"Kick Azz," "You Don't Wanna Dance" and "Go Get Pretty Like Me" are a triple-threat of unimpressive tracks.  And I hate to badmouth U-God; he's an underrated lyricist with a great voice.  But at the same time it's hard to defend hooks like "There's no one in the city like me / No one gets pretty like me, homie / Big wheels spinnin' on D's / Go get pretty like me, Goldie."

Just when you're reaching for the Stop or Eject button, the mighty U-Godzilla grabs you again with "A Long Time Ago."  It's heartbreaking to hear U-God's three quick verses about the only stories he has about his (real?) father - second-hand grievances relayed by his mother.  The second verse concludes with "'He struggled all his life, got blood on his knife / Light-skinned, he had your eyes' / But my mother couldn't handle him / The liquor, the gambling, plus he had four wives."  The third verse sadly declares "With his brother Big Harvey, he did a bank robbery / A car flipped and all the money spilled out / Before it was done, police caught him with some / Riddle of bullets, he died in a shootout."  If you've been reading the Map this whole time, you know I'm a sucker for Wu-Tang's real-life street stories, but I still say there's good reason for it.  "A Long Time Ago" is a real standout on this album, and it would be even among better competition.

The final two noteworthy songs are the reluctantly optimistic "Stop (Carry On)," which is steeped in a beautiful uncertain hope; and "Heart of Stone," which sounds lovingly retro ('80s keys and drum machines galore) and more alive than 90% of the album.  "Heart of Stone" even throws in some good pop culture references here and there, eg "Don't fuck with no niggaz, I figured they wired / I set 'em on fire like they name was Pryor."

Legacy:  I've heard U-God referred to as Mr. Xcitement sarcastically, and it's too bad that's likely the only lasting impression of this album for most.  Long out of print, I had to special order my copy.  With only a couple standout tracks and an imminent parting of ways from Wu-Tang, it's a damn miracle U-God came back with the much better Dopium in 2009 and the immensely satisfying The Keynote Speaker in 2013.  This is really the third or fourth punch to the gut the Wu had taken in recent years (following Tical 0, Birth of a Prince and the hit-and-miss Iron Flag).  I was afraid when I started the Map that this section of the Wu's career would start to come across as some serious hate-filled hipster angst, but then looking forward at some of the bombs that Wu-Tang Clan had yet to drop, I'm optimistic about the considerable return they forged hereafter.  Stay tuned, Wu fans; a whole new era of the Clan is emerging in the coming weeks!

Recommended Tracks:  A Long Time Ago, Heart of Stone.

Wu-Tang Clan: A Better Tomorrow (Quick Review).

Artist:  Wu-Tang Clan
Album:  A Better Tomorrow
Producer: RZA (except "Ruckus in B Minor" prod. by RZA and Rick Rubin, "40th St. Black / We Will Fight" and "Keep Watch" prod. by Mathematics, "Miracle" and "Necklace" prod. by 4th Disciple).

Review:  Since we won't be reaching A Better Tomorrow on the Map of Shaolin until sometime next fall, I wanted to give a good quick look at it now, closer to its release, and touch more on its legacy once we get to it in 2015 and have had a chance for the reviews to roll in and for it to cement its place in Wu-Tang's legacy.  For now, here's a track-by-track glimpse.

The best background to give is that in 2012, people started hyping up the 20th anniversary of Wu-Tang's debut album Enter the Wu-Tang and the Clan slowly, systematically came back together to bring out one more album.  Unfortunately, there was some beef between Raekwon and RZA, with as many as two or three songs released from the album before Rae got involved.  It likely came after several emcees initially blamed RZA for the poor public reception of the group's previous album, 8 Diagrams, which largely moved from samples and loops to live instruments.  Even after releasing "Keep Watch," Raekwon Tweeted "Keep Dreaming," dissing the song and the project.  They managed to squash their problems in time for the Chef to bring several verses to the album, and this is the result.

The first Wu album in seven years, A Better Tomorrow starts off with "Ruckus in B Minor," opening with a callback to Enter the Wu-Tang and hype lines from ODB before launching into a great first verse by Inspectah Deck.  U-God follows, uptempo and on point:  "Killa bees 20 years yeah we hold the pendant / On the cover of the magazine with my co-defendants."  Cappadonna, Ghostface keep the track live before a slowed down lovely verse by GZA and an interlude by RZA.  Method Man offers the hook (but don't worry - he'll be back for much more later) and the track ends with a solid - though admittedly "added in post-production" - verse split between Raekwon and Masta Killa.  In other words?  Every Wu general (including the quasi-official Cappadonna) makes an appearance to set the fuse.

"Felt" follows, a ponderous acoustic guitar-led remembrance of classic hip-hop.  It's good to hear Masta Killa give a shout-out to "Protect Ya Neck," asking the listener to remember how s/he felt on his/her first listen.  I like it because I saw an interview with him years ago in which he revealed that he dropped out of school after hearing "Protect Ya Neck" the first time, opting instead to work hard to get into Wu-Tang (only appearing on "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'" on Enter the Wu-Tang).  Method Man airs his first verse here.

"40th Street Black / We Will Fight" is next.  I definitely respect and appreciate the idea of the track, but the music (a high-speed brass-led march with a choir of vocals) sounds more like GI Joe than Wu-Tang.  Fortunately, Masta Killa, Method Man and GZA turn in a hat trick of fast and furious verses to keep the track alive.  Cappadonna holds his own, but still offers what I've always questioned about him: his rhymes are so loose and all over that some of it gets lost in translation.  U-God and RZA pick up the slack after him and end it strong.  I have a strange feeling that it will be the "Gravel Pit" of the album.

The fourth track is "Mistaken Identity," and by now it should be apparent that the musical direction of the album is an evolution of the live instruments on 8 Diagrams, frequently working better here than there.  I don't think the electric guitar during Method Man's verse comes across as badass as intended, but the keys, drums and bass are more than competent.  Streetlife guests, and although nobody outright sucks on the track, it's not my favorite, ending with a long 90-second musical outro (as does "Preacher's Daughter" later).  Kung-fu samples are also back, at the end of several tracks from beginning to end.

"Hold the Heater" brings it back into focus with a phat sound and verses by all involved, sampling Johnny Mathis's version of "Come to Me."  This is the fifth straight track to feature both Method Man and Masta Killa, though that streak is broken next by "Crushed Egos," which is essentially the featured solo Raekwon track (with a hook and third verse by RZA).  The music on "Crushed Egos" would sound just as comfortable on records by Portishead, Nancy Sinatra or The Revelations.  Though it's the second track to feature Raekwon that sounds like it was recorded separately from the rest of the album, I still have to say "Better late Chef than no Chef."  It's a solid track, no denying it.

"Keep Watch" was released months before the album, and some have badmouthed Nathaniel's hook, but Method Man lights the track off so lovely it's hard to see much else.  "Too much marijuana's got me p-noid / I'm killing instrumentals with that 'All So Simple Can It B'-Boy," twisting up the title of their track "Can It Be All So Simple."  Meth is as tight a lyricist as he's been the last 20+ years.  Inspectah Deck brings some classic Wu slang too: "Trying to Break Bad, you catch bad breaks / Like I own a bake shop how I stack cakes."  Cappadonna's rhymes are tight too, leading into another wise verse by GZA, whose rhymes speak so much about astronomy, light and energy that I hope he hasn't absorbed his project Dark Matter into this album.  Only time will tell.

"Miracle" will be the song that divides fans on this album.  The opening music and sung hook sound straight from a book of showtunes, with solemn swelling strings played by RZA and melodramatic vocals.  Luckily, hip-hop drums set in and Deck brings it back down to earth.  By the time we hear the hook again, this time in context, it makes much more sense.  I'm actually fine with it (and the smooth verses by Masta Killa, Raekwon and Ghostface) with the exception of the end, at which point the vocals turn a bit nu-metal, belting the hook out with an extra bar of music between each line.  It comes across as questionable as Evanescence or latter-day Killswitch Engage, but fortunately it doesn't ruin the whole track.

"Preacher's Daughter" genderbends "Son of a Preacher Man," with the music made livelier by fuller drums and bigger horns.  "The only girl that could ever please me / Was the daughter of a preacher man."  Method Man, Masta Killa, Cappadonna and Ghostface offer verses about their imagined preacher's daughter girlfriends, but although it's a great track, it ends with nearly two full minutes of music, which is just a bit too long.

"Pioneer the Frontier" may be the most Wu-sounding track on the record.  Dark and grimy like The W, with instrument and ODB samples from Enter the Wu-Tang, RZA growls the first verse over kick-kick-snare drums and bad guy horns.  U-God comes back for the first time in several songs to kill it: "Watch how the pitbull lock his jaws then lock ya doors / Feds watch the boards, hip-hop spills out my pores."  Deck brings the third verse and Masta Killa closes it in his classic evasive style.  It's just a solid damn track any way you listen.

For only the second time on the album (?!) Raekwon has a verse that doesn't sound recorded separately on "Necklace," which is another great dark-sounding Wu-Tang song.  And he brings his solid busy rhymes with him - "I keep my neck frozen, .45 loaded, please don't approach this / Rope is so ferocious, diamonds that shine in oceans."  The echoing drums and flanged guitar chords and gun foley sounds complement Ghostface's and GZA's verses well.

RZA wisely dropped the hook from the beginning of "Ron O'Neal," launching straight into Method Man's verse instead.  When the song debuted on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, it got off to a slow start like "Miracle" does here with its sung hook, here performed by Nathaniel (of "Keep Watch").  Spy movie guitar and funk back the track, energetically charging subsequent verses by Deck, Ghost and RZA, and hype lines by Masta Killa.  RZA's verses on "Ron O'Neal" and "Crushed Egos" sound tighter and more intelligent than anything recently on the Map (especially his outings as Bobby Digital), so it's a huge relief to know that he had a lot more to do on the mic.

The title track opens with the album's clear hero, Method Man, over jazzy soul piano, building to a crescendo and Masta Killa's verse, also sampling Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes' "Wake Up Everybody."  It's a bright, optimistic track whose music and hook could've closed Jackie Brown or had a home in Bobby Womack's discography.  Raekwon pops in his rhymes about police brutality, citing Malcolm X along the way.  It may be the type of rap your parents could get behind, but that doesn't make it a bad track.

"Never Let Go" takes a similar approach, sampling the "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King over jazz drums and trumpet.  Masta Killa, probably more prolific here than any other Wu album, sets it off and leads GZA, Method Man, Inspectah Deck, U-God and RZA through the track.  Bass guitar, piano, more horns and keys all come in early on.  Admittedly, it fumbles a bit, the instrumentals sounding more like a jam - and the hook only appearing after the fourth and sixth verses.

Finally, "Wu-Tang Reunion" (formerly "Family Reunion") closes, envisioning the humble days of yesteryear, kids playing in the backyard and barbecue on the grill, heavily sampling the O'Jays song of the same name.  Masta Killa, Method Man and Ghostface take turns with whimsical rhymes of their hometowns.  It's a good "end credits" style song, but it leaves me with a question.  I'm 99% certain I remember feeling let down after reading one of the Wu generals say that he knew when RZA released "Family Reunion" over a year ago, it wasn't meant to be a "real/new" Wu-Tang song, but more of a stop-gap between albums.  I wish I had the article on hand where I read that, but I don't.  I kinda hesitate even to mention it, but I wouldn't unless I were so nearly positive.  If that's the case, though, why is it the closer on A Better Tomorrow?

So how does it all end?  On the one hand, we've heard for years that once RZA released ABT, he'd probably hang up the mic and only produce from now on; it also took such an effort to get this out that it's been almost a given that it's Wu-Tang's last album - with emcees using phrases like "one last time" to describe the writing process.  There was the beef between RZA and Raekwon, the Sisyphean ordeal of actually putting the album out, the the much-promised but ever-so-slight "unreleased Ol' Dirty vocals" on the album and the divisive tracks like "Miracle."  Then again, some of the verses are as tight as Wu-Tang have ever sounded, Method Man and Masta Killa take charge throughout the record, RZA's focus on live instruments is now a fully-realized and mostly-excellent dream, and the Clan still sound like they're all in together now.  Despite a couple hiccups, A Better Tomorrow is a really good album.  I have no doubt we'll see plenty of solo records from the Wu in years to come, but if ABT is their swan song, it's at least a B+ graded testament that Wu-Tang is indeed forever.  And that can be good enough.

Unscheduled Pit Stop (Regarding Mr. Xcitement, A Better Tomorrow and 36 Seasons).

What's up Wu family?  It's jonny here with a quick update for Map of Shaolin; we've had a couple hiccups in the last week or two I wanted to straighten out.

Step 31 on the Map - U-God's 2005 release Mr. Xcitement - was originally planned for last week's entry.  It's another fascinating point in the Wu catalog, in which U-God actually quit Wu-Tang for awhile, but last week (as you may have read) was a point in the blog and very close to the 10th anniversary of the death of Ol' Dirty Bastard, one of the original nine Wu generals.  I imagined I'd make a quick note of it (as I did last week) and reschedule Mr. Xcitement for this week.

Well, I'm taking just one more week and I'll tell you why.  On a personal level, a loved one passed and I haven't had the opportunity to work on Mr. Xcitement for this week - thanks for understanding.

On the other hand, this is a huge month for Wu-Tang.  Today they released A Better Tomorrow, their first full-length studio album in seven years (since 2007's 8 Diagrams).  It's been in the works for two years and nearly didn't include Raekwon the Chef, but it ended up with all nine generals (including some posthumous hype lines and samples from ODB) plus Cappadonna and Streetlife.  15 tracks ranging in tone from the grimy The W to the live instruments on 8 Diagrams and the funk and soul samples that have helped shape RZA's production career over 20 years.  Love it or hate it, it dropped this week and makes the first added entry to the (chronological) end of the planned Map of Shaolin.  I expect to review it in the next week or so, and do a proper entry for it next year when I make my way to it.

A new Wu-Tang miscellaneous compilation called Wu Trax also came out today, but I haven't had the chance to listen to it.  It has an Ol' Dirty Bastard track ("Pop Shots") from his mixtape Osirus, a Gravediggaz song and several rarities.  Little is known about it as of yet, but it's available for purchase from online retailers like Amazon and Best Buy.

Finally, the new Ghostface Killah record 36 Seasons is due out next week, on December 9.  A concept album and spiritual sequel to last year's 12 Reasons to Die, this record's story finds Ghostface returning to New York after nine years to find his woman has moved on and his neighborhood has taken a serious turn for the worse.  It's available for streaming on NPR by clicking here as part of their "First Listen" program as the whole album or individual tracks.  It's a really solid release, with Consequence of Sound even saying it easily surpasses A Better Tomorrow.  Time will tell when reviews start rolling in closer to release day next Tuesday.  36 Seasons will also be added on to its proper place at the end of the Map, just after A Better Tomorrow - I'll also try to review it as a bonus entry in the next two weeks or so.

Thanks for your patience and understanding; I'll keep the next few Map entries on schedule and add in quick reviews for A Better Tomorrow and 36 Seasons between them on weekends.  See you then; hang in there!